Match Preview

Real Madrid will make the trip to Rome on Tuesday to take on Roma at the Stadio Olimpico in the second fixture between the two in Group G of the Champions League. Both clubs will be going into this match after disappointing results over the weekend.

Real lost 3-0 to Eibar on Saturday at the Ipurua, after embarking on a win streak under new manager Santiago Solari. Roma also had a loss on Saturday when they lost 1-0 to Udinese on the road.

These two clubs faced off back in September at the Bernabéu, where Real won convincingly over the Romans 3-0. Now, Real must remain on the road and try to get another win over Roma.

It will not be easy, but this is the one tough team that Real is matched up against in Group G. Even though Roma is 7th in Serie A, they are still capable of pulling of an upset as they did against Barcelona last season.

Injuries/Suspensions

Real Madrid still have several injuries to the squad ahead of the Roma match. Odriozola picked up a brief knock against Eibar and is not included in the announced roster. Navas is also out, but he has returned to training after his knee surgery. Reguilón, Casemiro and Nacho remain out.

Roma have a long list of injuries as well. They are still without Javier Pastore, Diego Perotti, Daniele De Rossi and now Lorenzo Pellegrini. They are getting Kostas Manolas back from injury. Eden Dzeko was questionable according to MARCA, but he is in Roma’s announced squad.

There are no suspensions for either side in Tuesday’s match.

Potential XIs

Real Madrid

Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo; Modric, Llorente, Kroos; Bale, Asensio, Benzema

Courtois will likely get the start with Navas still missing. Carvajal should take back his place with Odriozola not included in the lineup.

With Casemiro missing a second match, I would love to see Marcos Llorente get a chance in his place instead of Ceballos again. Isco still doesn’t appear to be fully healthy yet after coming off his long injury.

The attacking trio should remain the same, despite producing disappointing results against Eibar. We may see Mariano at some point now that he has returned to the lineup.

Roma

Olsen; Florenzi, Fazio, Manolas, Kolarov; Cristante, N’Zonzi; Kluivert, Cengiz Ünder, El Shaarawy, Dzeko

Prediction

Real Madrid-Roma 3-2

Real Madrid are a bit unpredictable right now. After that grand debut from Solari, everything has been thrown back into question after the big loss against Eibar.

They’ve been conceding quite a bit of goals and were not able to score yet again on Saturday, something that was a problem under Lopetegui. Roma have been struggling also, but that certainly doesn’t mean they can’t put in a huge performance in front of their home crowd.

Real need this win to put a stranglehold on Group G, they’d almost certainly be moving on to the knockout phase. Being on the road has been a problem for Real this season, they need to turn it around. A win also gets them back in good graces under Solari again, at least until the Valencia match over the weekend.

With the majority of the starting squad back from injury, sans Casemiro, Real need to be able to start putting in wins under Solari again and prove the four matches before the international break were not flukes.